


We Didn't Deserve Him

by I_can_only_imagine



Series: Happy April 27th [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Bad Parent Sheila Haywood, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Character Death, Character Study, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd is Robin, Protective Jason Todd, happy april 27th, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:42:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23873359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_can_only_imagine/pseuds/I_can_only_imagine
Summary: A small one shot based on a random idea I had regading Sheila Haywood's last words.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Sheila Haywood & Jason Todd
Series: Happy April 27th [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720528
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80





	We Didn't Deserve Him

Bruce had confided in both Alfred and Clark with some of the last words of Sheila Haywood. Her dying breaths dedicated to telling Bruce what a good kid Jason turned out to be, and how he had tried to save her so many times in one day, even from the blast that ultimately took them both. He had told them the state both the mother and son were in when he found them, and how Jason was long gone but Sheila had held on just long enough to tell him.  
What he hadn’t told them was her true dying words. The ones that she pushed out even after she had stopped taking in the air to support them and give the emotion he knew they were meant to carry. He hadn’t told them the simple sentence the broken, disgraced doctor had told him with the very last of her strength.  
“I never deserved him. And neither did you.”  
He knew she was right, because he also knew that if Jason had heard her say it, he would have fought the subject until all three of them wasted away. He would tell the very woman who abandoned him at birth then sold him out to his murderer that she deserved much better than him, and she was right to have left him to pursue her own life and happiness. And he would have told her that the very man who dragged him into this mess in the first place and put him in the line of fire for a war he had no place in was the best father he could have asked for. He would not only tell her, but tell anyone who would listen, yelling it for all to hear.  
Bruce knew this, because it was exactly what Jason had done for the Todds. Anytime someone had bad mouthed the father who brought him into this world and the mother who raised him, namely Dick, Jason would gain a fire in his eyes that could scare even the devil. He would pronounce that Willis Todd was a good man, even though in reality he was a deadbeat father and a dirty criminal, and had actually gotten into physical fights with both Dick and Bruce saying that Cathrine Todd, the very Cathrine Todd who overdosed in front of him, was the strongest woman he knew and the Narrows’s greatest mom.  
“You need to face the facts or you will never be able to move on,” Dick had told Jason in a stern voice, squaring up in preparation for the blow that was sure to come. “Your father was a terrible man and your mother was a drug addict who gave up.”  
“Shut up,” Jason had growled, glaring up at his new brother.  
“He was nothing but a criminal and she was a coward who let you down,” Dick said. He meant well, Bruce knew he did, but it didn’t stop the anger from rising at how hotheaded and short sided his son could be.  
“My father did what he had to do, and my mom loved me!” Jaosn cried, surging forward to try and land a good hit. The move was caught by Dick before he pushed Jason back.  
“Stop lying to yourself,” Dick almost pleaded.  
“Stop lying to me,” Jason flipped the plea into a jab.  
“Jason-”  
“Richard stop,” Bruce had barked, finally bringing an end to the fight.  
How many times had the same scenario played out? And how many times had Jason proven his loyalty to those he loved?  
“He turned out to be such a good kid,” Sheila had told him that dark day. “All of his problems, and he still turned out good. He’s much better that I deserve. Much better.”  
Her words haunted him day and night, ringing with their truth. They drilled themselves into his heart and soul until he was left with nothing but the truth.  
“I never deserved him. And neither did you.”


End file.
